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Woman reports pet dog snatched by coyote on south Boulder trail

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
04/24/2014 02:05:18 PM MDT

Updated:
04/25/2014 12:49:09 PM MDT

Tim Metz and Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Ranger Kelsey Harter listen as a woman whose dog was taken by a coyote points to where she just saw a coyote up the hillside from Bear Canyon Trail on Thursday afternoon. She declined to give her name. (Paul Aiken / Daily Camera)

A coyote attacked and ran off with a woman's dog after she let if off-leash on the Bear Canyon Trail on Thursday, according to a report being investigated by Boulder open space rangers.

The owner — who declined to give her name — said she was hiking the trail with her dog Maddie, an 8-pound Coton de Tulear, around noon Thursday when she let the dog off-leash to get a drink at a nearby creek.

The owner said she was about 200 yards away when she saw the coyote next to Maddie. At first she thought it was a large dog she had seen on the path earlier.

"I thought it was playing with her," she said.

But the owner said the coyote then picked up her dog and ran off.

A Boulder open space ranger responded but found no trace of Maddie. A coyote was spotted about an hour later roughly 100 yards off the trail, up a hill. But it was not clear whether it was the same animal.

The area where the incident happened does require dogs to be leashed.

The owner said she lives in Denver but used to hike the trail in the past, and she was in town for a class and wanted to spend some time with Maddie before she went away on a trip.

"I just thought it would be nice to take a quick walk," she said.

Karen Brown, a Boulder resident walking her miniature pinscher chihuahua mix Minch, said she has seen coyotes on the trail before and, for that reason, keeps Minch on a leash and close to her.

"Because of the coyotes, it would not be a good idea to let them off the leash," Brown said.

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